By Paul Ereng
Every Olympic is remembered as the games of a certain athlete who posts the performance that lingers in people’s minds for generations.
For example, the games of the 23rd Olympiad in Los Angles in USA were the games of Carl Lewis.
Lewis won five Olympics Gold medals then. The games of the 24th Olympiad in Seoul South Korea were the games of the late Florence Griffith Joyner. Joyner won three gold medals and silver in 4x40m relays in style; she did set Olympic records and world records in both the 100m and 200m, which still stand today.
The games of the 26th Olympiad in Atlanta Georgia in the USA belonged to Michael Johnson. Johnson won the 200m setting both the Olympics and world record of 19.32sec and an Olympic record in 400m.
The games of the 29th Olympiad in Beijing China were the games of Usain Bolt. Bolts collected three gold medals all with Olympic and world records performances.
It’s my belief that the Games of the 30th Olympiad in London England will be remembered as the games of David Rudisha of Kenya. Although others might argue that Bolt of Jamaica also delivered by going to the record books as the only athlete who defended both his titles in the 100m and 200 in Olympic history.
Rudisha would be remembered as the hero of the games of 30th Olympiad after we consider the following facts: First, it’s very rare for an athlete to set a world record in 800m in an Olympic final.
The only other time such a feat was accomplished was in 1976 by Alberto Juantorena of Cuba. The other time such fit was also accomplished in other championship races other than Olympic Games was during the 1989 indoor championship In Buda Pest Hungary by yours sincerely.
In 1993 by Wilson Kipketer again at the World Indoor Championship in Paris. Also, let’s remember Rudisha’s performance is like those sub-four-minute barriers in the mile of Sir Roger Bannister. This is the first time anyone has run under 1.41min in an 800m race.
Secondly, most 800m world record races are mostly assisted by pace setters, also known in track and field lingo as rabbits, but Rudisha didn’t need this when he ran in London. In addition there has never been in Olympic or any championship in history when the last runner in race ran a sub 1.44.00. In fact the 1.43:77 ran by Andrew Osagie of the Great Britain has won Gold medal in Olympics before.
Rudisha walked to the Olympics 800m final with a resume of about 6 years of international running experience and the three fastest times of the year in 800m. The first 200m 23 second was lactic acid producing ran for most 800m runners. Through the 400m in 49.28 seconds he looked effort less and his turbo charge at 300m to go reaching the 600m in 1.14min had obliterated the entire field. Only the young rising Nijel Amos of Botswana showed some reserve in the tank when he closed the gap at the home stretch, however The Grad warrior of Kenya stopped the Omega Clock at 1.40:91 min a new Olympic and World record.
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